Mind-Brain Lecture: Mathias Pessiglione (Paris)

“The brain valuation system and its neural partners”

During the last decade, a growing set of evidence has revealed that motivational values are encoded in a so-called “brain valuation system” (BVS). In this talk, I will first highlight BVS fundamental properties: it encodes values that are personal (subject- and not stimulus-specific), generic (expressed in a common neuronal currency) and automatic (generated even during distractive tasks). Then I will show some examples on how the BVS interacts with other brain systems (in particular the perceptual, motor, cognitive, episodic and mirror systems) that can influence or be influenced by motivational values. These neural interactions might explain a number of psychological phenomena such as incentive motivation, delay discounting or mimetic desires. Mathias Pessiglione, Institut du cerveau et de la Moelle (ICM), Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris
Host: John-Dylan Haynes

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